The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts are a group of table-top wargamers who get together every Thursday night to enjoy some gaming, some beer and a few chuckles courtesy of our hobby.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Second Painting Challenge Entry - WW2 20mm German Infantry Platoon

20mm WW2 German Infantry Platoon

My second entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is a set of opponents for my first entry - a platoon of WW2 German Infantry. With one exception, these figures are all from the Plastic Soldier Company's 1/72 Late War German Infantry box sets. Some of these figures were painted prior to the challenge starting, but I finished most of them after I powered through the Russians.

The fellow in the front is a 20mm casting from Warmodelling - everyone else is plastic from PSC

There are enough figures for a full regular infantry platoon, three squads of 10 men each, each with a two-man LMG team. This PSC set has the same challenge as the Russians, in that the LMG figures are either prone (sigh) or marching merrily (useless). But it is lacking in a figure that looks like a proper platoon commander/officer, so I ordered a metal one from Warmodelling.

One LMG per squad in this platoon of foot sloggers

The figures are based as the Russians, with NCOs on square bases and senior leaders on hex bases and everyone else on round bases.

Prone LMG gunners - a disappointing sculpt, but better than marching!

I find painting German uniforms to be the hardest part of collecting figures for WW2. Even getting the basic green/grey correct is tricky (at least for me), and once you advance past a certain period of the war a wide assortment of camouflage smocks and helmet covers start to appear. Painting camouflage is tricky at the best of times, and with the Germans and their 700 different versions of camouflage, I go bonkers trying to figure it out.

Different base types visible in this shot

In the case of these figures, they are wearing later war boots/pants/gaiters, and many of them also have some sort of camouflage cover on their helmets. On most of them I attempted a weak copy of the most "standard" German camouflage that I could find, and on others I imagined that perhaps these covers may have been improvised at times, so I painted them a dark yellow.

Decent modelling of the German kit on these PSC figures

For their overall uniforms I used a few different types of green, grey and green grey to try and vary the appearance a little bit, and washed liberally with GW's Agrax Earthshade, with a few highlights picked up again following the wash.

There are a total of 27 foot figures and three two-man LMG teams. Of this, eight foot figures and one LMG team were painted prior to the Challenge, leaving a net of 19 foot figures and two LMG teams, which I think works out to 84 points.

Not sure what I will paint up next - sensible people like Byron have a plan of sorts for the Painting Challenge, but I find that any painting I "plan" never gets done, so I'm just playing it by ear.